Town of Brunswick, Maine

OFFICE OF THE TOWN MANAGER

MEMORANDUM

TO:
Town Council

FROM:
John Eldridge

Town Manager

DATE:
November 30, 2016

SUBJECT:
Metro Breez Bus Service



Greg Jordan, Executive Director of the METRO, will be present at your December 5th meeting to
make a presentation about the METRO BREEZ bus service, now in operation between Portland and
Freeport, and to discuss the potential for extending service to Brunswick. As you may recall, in
2014, the Town had discussions with Mr. Jordan, following METROs announced threeyear pilot
project that would expand service to Freeport. In 2014, due to the lack of additional grant funding,
the cost of extending the service from Freeport to Brunswick was considered cost prohibitive.
However, Mr. Jordan indicated that he would continue to look for grant funding to lower that cost.

Since that time, staff has discussed potential funding sources with Mr. Jordan and it now appears
that there may be sufficient grant funding to extend service to Brunswick. This would be a two
year pilot and piggyback on the existing METRO BREEZ service. The first and second year cost to
Brunswick is estimated at $50,000 and $60,000 respectively, and dependent on the Maine
Department of Transportations (MDOT) approval of a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality
(CMAQ) grant funding request. After the completion of the pilot, the cost would rise, as the grant
funding is not expected to be as favorable once the pilot is complete.

The attached information relating to the METRO BREEZ and possible expansion to Brunswick was
initially included in the September 19, 2016 Town Council meeting packet and is provided for your
reference. Should the Council wish to proceed with the pilot, the Town would need to appropriate
the $50,000 funding match required for year one and MDOT would need to approve Metros CMAQ
funding request.







Attachments

Greater Portland Transit District

Expanding Metro BREEZ to the Town of Brunswick

INTRODUCTION
The Metro BREEZ project launched on June 16, 2016 and now provides ten (10) express bus
roundtrips connecting the communities of Freeport, Yarmouth, Falmouth and Portland. Based on
ridership trends during the first 2 months of service, the base project is expected to achieve its
year 1 ridership projection of 30,000 boardings. With an expansion to Brunswick and connections
to the Brunswick Explorer, the Metro BREEZ service can approach the success of similar service
provided from Biddeford-Saco to Portland which achieves boardings in excess of 60,000 per year.

As a result of the Metro Breez project along with other new programs, reliability improvements
and service improvements, Metro projected 2016 ridership is on track to be the highest since the
early 1980s.
Figure 1: Metro System Level Ridership

Metro (including Metro Breez) is a partner in the Southern Maine Transit Tracker (SMTT) which is
a transit information system provides real-time and predicted arrival information to riders. There
are a variety of tools, as described below, available for both desktop and mobile devices:

Watch buses and ferries travel in Real-time (RT) and map your routes and stops on a Google
base map.

Find the ETA for your favorite stops using

any web-enabled device. Or, text to SMTT
(stop ID) 41411 for ETA and alerts sent by
Short Message Service (SMS) on any textenabled phone.

3rd party developers, such as TransitApp,

Moovit and Nokia have created mobile
apps for the region.
2

The SMTT open data is shared with Google Transit to provide trip planning assistance,
schedules and links to agency information.

METRO BREEZ BRUNSWICK EXPANSION PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Metro Breez project functions as a hybrid service in that it offers the features of long-distance
express as well as bi-directional inter-city service. Table 1 below provides an overview of the base
project along with the Brunswick expansion.
Table 1: Project Overview
Area
Base Project

With Brunswick Extension

Service Model

All Day Express

All Day Express

Days

Mon-Sat

Mon-Sat

Hours

6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Frequency

30-120 minutes

30-75 minutes

# Trips

Weekday: 10 SB / 10 NB
Saturday: 5 SB / 5 NB

Weekday: 11 SB / 11 NB
Saturday: 7 SB / 7 NB

Fares

Flat Fare System:

$3.00 (twice the local fare of $1.50).

Zone Fare System:

$3.00/$4.00-$5.00

Buses

3 low floor mid-size buses

Seating capacity 18 plus 2 wheelchair
positions
Amenities: Bike racks, Wi-Fi, USB Ports,
overhead storage, high back seats, realtime arrival info.

4 low floor mid-size buses

Seating capacity 18 plus 2 wheelchair
positions.
Amenities: Bike racks, Wi-Fi, USB Ports,
overhead storage, high back seats, real-time
arrival info.

Route
Destinations

I-295 and Route 1

Downtown Freeport
Downtown Yarmouth
Downtown Falmouth
Downtown Portland

I-295 and Route 1

Downtown Brunswick
Downtown Freeport
Downtown Yarmouth
Downtown Falmouth
Downtown Portland

Park and Ride

Locations

Freeport 2 locations
Yarmouth 2 locations
Falmouth 1 location
Portland 1 location

Brunswick 1 location
Freeport 2 locations
Yarmouth 2 locations
Falmouth 1 location
Portland 1 location

Inter-modal
Connections

Amtrak Downeaster (Freeport

Station, Portland Station)
Concord Coach (Portland)
Metro Transit Center (Portland)

Amtrak Downeaster (Brunswick,

Freeport Station and Portland Stations)
Concord Coach (Portland)
Metro Transit Center (Portland)

2016-17: 30,000 boardings

2017-18: 35,000 boardings
2018-19: 40,000 boardings

2016-17: 30,000 boardings

2017-18: 45,000 boardings
2018-19: 50,000 boardings

Ridership
Estimate

METRO BREEZ PROJECT BUDGET - PROPOSED BRUNSWICK EXPANSION

PILOT PROJECT PHASE
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
OPERATING COSTS
Operating Cost
Fuel
Vehicle Maintenance
Contingency (8%)
Indirect
Public Information
Total Costs

Permanent
2019-20 Notes

$
$
$
$
$
$
$

196,532
33,030
34,165
13,186
42,196
22,297
341,406

$
$
$
$
$
$
$

298,953
77,623
80,292
36,549
73,099
20,000
586,517

$
$
$
$
$
$
$

307,921
79,952
82,701
37,646
75,292
15,000
598,512

$
$
$
$
$
$
$

317,159
82,351
85,182
38,775
77,551
10,000
611,018

50,156
15%

87,978
15%

95,762
16%

109,983
18%

FEDERAL CMAQ TOTAL

Federal CMAQ - Base Project
Federal CMAQ - Expanded
Federal CMAQ % (Net of Fares)

$
$
$

233,000
233,000
80%

$
$
$

373,905
220,000
153,905
75%

$
$
$

351,925
218,000
133,925
70%

$
$
$

FEDERAL 5307 TOTAL

Federal 5307 - Base Project
Federal 5307 - Expanded
Federal 5307 % (Net of Fares)

$
$
$

LOCAL TOTAL
Local: Other Partners
Local: Metro-Indirect
Local: Member Communities
Local % (Net of Fares)

$
$
$
$

58,250
42,196
16,054
20%

$
$
$
$

124,635
73,099
51,536
25%

$
$
$
$

Total Revenue

341,406

586,517

SOURCES OF FUNDING
Fare Revenue
Fare Recovery Ratio

$
$
$

0%

0%

$0

Surplus/(Deficit)

$
$
$

Preliminary fare revenue estimate.

Existing CMAQ allocation.

Proposed additional CMAQ allocation for Brunswick extension.

0%
$
$
$

213,856
96,849
117,008
43%

2019-20 Federal 5307 previously approved by PACTS.

Proposed additional FTA 5307 funding - subject to availability/PACTS approval.

150,825
75,292
75,533
30%

$
$
$
$

287,178
287,178
57%

To be determined.
Initial Metro absorbtion of indirect costs transitions to members in 2019-2020.
Cost allocation among members in 2019-2020 subject to review and approvals.

598,512

611,018

0%

$0

Does not include capital acquisition or debt service.

$0

$0

SERVICE PROFILE
Member Communities:

Brunswick, Freeport, Yarmouth, Falmouth and Portland

Service Levels:
Weekday
Saturday
Sunday

11 roundtrips between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.

7-8 roundtrips between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
No service

Annual Ridership Estimates:

2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20

30,000
40,000
45,000
50,000

BRUNSWICK LOCAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Operating
Capital (Fleet)
Capital (Bus Stops/Shelters)
Total

$
$
$

2016-17
-

$
$
$
$

2017-18
28,402
13,500
8,000
49,902

$
$
$
$

2018-19
45,831
13,500
59,331

2019-20
TBD
$
13,500
$
TBD

Notes
Range $60,000 - $75,000 depending on service level and cost allocation.
Three (3) year debt service on bond for local match.
Local match for 2-3 bus shelters and/or minor stops.